Southampton Container Terminal still slowed by crane accident

Southampton Container Terminal still slowed by crane accident Operations at Southampton Container Terminal are not expected to return to normal until the mid-March, two months after a crane collapsed onto a boxship at the United Kingdom’s second-largest container complex.
   A number of cranes at SCT needed safety checks when on Jan. 18 one of the units crashed down on the vessel Kyoto Express. Nobody was injured in the incident but one month on, the terminal is still only functioning with five out of 11 cranes operating.
   Christopher Snelling, head of the Freight Transport Association’s global supply chain policy, said the situation highlights how overextended the U.K.’s container port capability is right now. “Companies around the country are still having to reroute deliveries through continental ports, adding delay and cost into supply chains. Hauliers are losing out massively as goods are not getting through to be delivered. Forward planning to deal with the ongoing problems has been impossible as it has not been clear until now how long the problems will last. Now companies will need to be making alternative plans for another month at least,” he said in a statement.
   “Accidents happen, and safety should always be paramount, but two months to recover from such a serious problem is far too long ' We need to see massive expansion of our ports, and significant investment in improving the facilities available,” Snelling said.